SIUDMAK,
an artist of Polish origin, settled in France in 1966 and is considered
to be one of the principal representatives of fantastic realism (like M.C.
Escher, L. Fini and others). He himself claims to be a fantastic hyperrealist,
conscientiously putting his originality into relief. Fantastic realism,
uniting an irreal vision with naturalistic art is rooted in surrealism
as represented by S. Dali, R. Magritte and P. Delvaux. Siudmak is close
to Dali by his brilliance in portraying the three-dimensional illusion
of space, by his sense of light and shade as well as his linear and aerial
perspective. Siudmak adds to these means of traditional artistic expression
a very personal and purely hyperrealist slant, where research into technical
perfection is put to the use of an overflowing and highly original imagination.
Beyond the time, away from the bustle of theories and fashions, Siudmak's
art flourishes in a privileged space. In the tradition of our history's
great visionaries, his art shines by its extravagant pictorial virtuosity,
it fascinates by its rare unconventional inspiration and its deep intellectual
wealth. A unique universe, full of personal symbolism, filled with imaginary
constructions, which are strangely and unexpectedly interwoven. In keeping
with the great technical tradition of the Renaissance, Siudmak invites
us to a boundless journey across the world of his fantastic universe. There
prevails his motto: «only dream enables us to get over insurmountable
obstacles".Many personalities
have expressed their admiration for his painting:

"What
boundless fantasy and what prodigious ability to make it come true An almvost
unbelievable talent, more gifted and infinite of the one who guides, expresses
himself and invents ourrichest dreams. "

Federico
Fellini

"Hanging
on the wall facing me, in a part of my house where I spend many hours,
is the l 976 Cannes Film Festival poster. It is signed by Siudmak. I have
been travelling for many years through is painting. Thanks to him and with
him, I dream of images over and beyond the horizon. A hyperrealist of the
supernatural, intimate with the ininite, Siudmak has a serene control over
his extraordinary folly. He has the divine gift of being able to materialize
his imagination. He has the kindness to know how to carry us along
with him."

Jean-Jacques
Annaud

"His
fine draftsmanship and sense of light and dark give his visions great depth
and multiply the remarkable range of colors and textures. There
is a powerful tranquillity in his creations, and an endless
space to explore and invent. "

George
Lucas

"The
beauty which shines through Siudmak's colours is immediately striking.
You cant help but notice it, as I dld the first time I saw, passin
by in the street, a Siudmak poster among a hundred other posters.
The beauty was so gripping that I stopped dead, in the same way thatyou
stop in front of a rainbow because it is so transparently beautiful. "

Guy
Béart

"The
genius of his creative power touches us and stirs up our confusion. Captured
by this intense emotion we enter his worJd of fiction and inner space.
"

Francis
Lai

"Siudmak
is the Michaelangelo of science-fiction. He paints hieratic beings with
muscular, athletic bodies, evocative of Michaelangelos anatomical drawings.
He shows us men and women as though suspended in amniotic fluid, outside
time... His world is very dlsturbing but very seductive. "

Michel
Nuridsany

"With
the pictorial purity of a Monsieur Ingres keeping Gustave Moreau and a
sharper Dali up his well-tailored sleeve. Siudmak celebrates the perpetual
Ascension of Woman as the heiress of the mediaeval Virgin, Queen of the
angels. Among cosmic vessels hurtling through space, he sings an Ave maria,
an echo of Villon the kneeling galant. "

Paul
Guth

"Siudmak
s art is one of the most passionate there is. Not only by the unequalled
serenity which is released but also because one never finishes to exhaust
the meaning. Allegorical art if one whishes, where each detail can convey
a word, a phrase, an idea. Art penetrated throughout by literature whether
it be reflexion or narrative; art where each part of the painting bounds
back onto others and produces endless chains of association.

Jacques
Goimard

His
works, which are distributed world-wide have for a long time been used
for cinema, theatre and museum posters. Thus one finds them as advertising
medium to such prestigious events as the Cannes Film Festival, the Festival
International du Film Fantastique et de Science-Fiction, the Marais Festival
in Paris, the Festival of Films of the World in Montreal..." Such big industrial
companies have chosen Siudmak's works to express through art form, their
research and their technological successes. His paintings have also been
appearing for many years on book covers of one of the most important Science
Fiction collections in France (the Pocket S.F. Collection), as well as
on record sleeves and in other publicity medium. Siudmak also works with
different art galleries and publishing houses in the world. Since 1988
a series of big retrospective exhibitions has been organized in many European
cities and in other countries, to demonstrate the enormous extent of the
artist's research over the past twenty years. In Poland, a cycle of exhibitions,
organised in 1998 in the museums of five large cities ended at the National
Museum of Warsaw. The continuity of this cycle is planned for 2002. A giant
projection of the works of the painter took place in February 2000, on
the facade of the temple of Ramses III at Luxor, Egypt. In France, the
first retrospective exhibition took place in 1989 in Paris at the "Palais
de Tokyo". Another exhibition will be organised in year 2000 at the prestigious
Eiffel Tower which, with Poitier's Futoroscope, will be part of the cycle
presented in the museums of other towns such as Nancy, Roanne, Aix-les-Bains,
Gaillac, Grande Synthe - Dunkirk. Thus this cycle will commemorate the
pasage to the third millennium and create a link between the fantastic
universe of the artist and the future.